Letter to the Editor – “Unsafe Water, Broken Promises, and No Path Forward”

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

Hartman is in a condition that Colorado law does not have a name for. We are a statutory town with no statutory function, a municipality with no municipal authority, and a community left without governance, protection, or recourse. This is collapse, not dissolution. It is legal limbo, not legal closure. It is state‑induced paralysis, not state‑managed transition.

The most accurate description of what happened is this: the state did not dissolve Hartman. The county did not dissolve Hartman. No lawful dissolution process has occurred. Hartman is still a statutory town. But the state and county are treating Hartman as if it doesn’t exist. That is abandonment, not dissolution.

Despite what residents were told, Hartman has not been legally dissolved — it is still a statutory town, just one the state and county has chosen to abandon.

What has the State of Colorado given Hartman that we didn’t already have? The short answer is simple: nothing. Not one thing that improves our water, our safety, our rights, or our daily lives.

Before the state abandoned Hartman, we had unsafe water. After abandonment, we still have unsafe water. The state has not provided a single improvement to the water system. Before abandonment, we
had no functioning government. After abandonment, we still don’t. The state did not give us governance — it removed it. Before abandonment, we had no emergency intervention. After abandonment, we still don’t. The state has not stepped in to protect public health.

Before abandonment, we had a failing water system. After abandonment, we still have a failing water system — and the “solution” being offered is to push chlorine into the same broken tank we’ve been dealing with for years. That is not a fix. That is cosmetic compliance.

The state took our statutory rights away and gave nothing in return.

So, what did the state give us? Nothing we didn’t already have — except fewer rights, less control, and no path forward. The only thing that changed is that the state and county are now shielded from responsibility. The town is being erased. The problem is being politically neutralized. Residents have gained nothing. Institutions have gained protection.

Hartman residents were told that dissolving our town would finally bring us safe, potable water. That message was repeated by the county, by DOLA, by CML, and by our state senator and state
representative. People were scared and desperate, and they were led to believe dissolution was the only path to relief.

But today, after state abandonment, nothing has changed.

The county is still holding four years of Hartman’s property tax revenue. The State of Colorado is still withholding the grant money that was supposed to repair our water system. And our community is
living with the same failed tank, lack of chlorine in the water system, and the same unsafe water we have been dealing with off and on for years.

We were promised help. What we received was abandonment.

The “solution” being offered for our failed water system is to bring in a water operator to push chlorine into a system with a corroded tank. That is not a fix. That is not public health protection.  It is the same failed practice we were living with before abandonment — nothing has changed.

Abandonment has not delivered clean water, financial transparency, or state support. It has only removed our local government, stripped us of our statutory rights, and shielded the county and the state from accountability for years of inaction.

Hartman residents deserve answers. We deserve transparency. We deserve safe water. And we deserve the truth about why the institutions that promised to help us have delivered nothing.

At this point, the actions of the county, the state, and the officials who promoted dissolution speak for themselves. Hartman residents were promised relief, but we are still living with unsafe water, withheld promises, and no path forward. I can only hope that when the time comes, voters look closely at what was said, what was promised, and what was actually delivered. Our community deserves leaders who protect residents, not institutions — and who stand with us when it matters most.

Shawna Casey, Hartman Resident